The first thing dictators do is shut down the press

John McCain points out that Trump’s constant spittle-flecked rages at the news media are the short road to dictatorship.

Sen. John McCain spoke out Saturday in defense of the free press after President Trump lashed out against the news media several times over the past week, at one point declaring it “the enemy of the American People!”

Such talk, McCain (R-Ariz.) said on NBC News in an interview set to air Sunday, was “how dictators get started.”

“In other words, a consolidation of power,” McCain told “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd from Munich. “When you look at history, the first thing that dictators do is shut down the press. And I’m not saying that President Trump is trying to be a dictator. I’m just saying we need to learn the lessons of history.”

He’s not not trying to be a dictator. I think he’d be delighted to be a dictator if he could manage it. I don’t know that that’s what he’s trying to do though. In all fairness I think he’s too stupid to think about it that clearly.

10 Responses to “The first thing dictators do is shut down the press”

I think he’s so used to having people jump and do things at his command when he was in business that he figured this compliance by others would follow him into the Oval Office. He’s frustrated at discovering that it doesn’t work that way. Now it’s like he’s got one of those guns that when you pull the trigger, a flag that says “BANG!” comes out.

Re ‘too stupid to think about it that clearly’: I always find it hard to tell (and always very much wonder) with destructive, charismatic figures (founders of cults/religions, demagogues, televangelists, assorted charlatans) to what degree they’re conscious of various aspects of what they do–whether and how clearly they know they’re deceiving people (and whether/to what degree they deceive themselves), how much they plan and how much they just instinctively feel their way through people’s weakenesses. It’s true that given what we know of Trump’s reading habits it’s unlikely he’s real deliberately following anyone else’s template exactly… I do find it hard to swallow, I guess, that he’s thinking ‘Well, this worked for all those other guys I’ve observed take power…’

… and it’s also a bit odd (and alarming) to think: I don’t think he’s the _first_ guy you could say this about: that he really just kind of felt his way into it. Suggesting that the trope of the conniving, brilliant, always two steps ahead of his opposition evil genius strongman isn’t necessarily that reflective of reality; tho’ these people do almost certainly also exist, I suspect lots of these figures probably just knew enough to tell the right lies, conjure the right fantasies, get enough people baying for blood on cue, and enough to keep their immediate circle supportive, helping them out, or at least sufficiently divided against each other and enjoying their own perks of power. Confusion, indeed, is central to their success, but it may be they’re just as confused themselves most of the time. Suggesting to me again that this may be less about the figure at the centre of it than those all around who fall under the spell. Making dictators and cult figures as much a mass phenomenon as anything else. It’s not so much anything about Trump personally as that Trumpism is an inevitable byproduct of more general forces in our civilization…

And then again, it probably doesn’t much matter. Even if he’s completely blundering his way into history, completely oblivious to the parallels with people whose names he may not even be able to spell, let alone locate on a timeline or in their context, the effect is going to be the same…

So whether or not _he_ can see the parallels, what’s important is: everyone _else_ has to. And grasp where this could go, if not stopped soon.

(The other really interesting question for me remains: how much do the _followers_ know it’s a line? I’ve always kinda figured there’s two general classes of things people get wrong: the ones they’re _truly_ oblivious about, entirely not noticing, and if it’s ever successfully pointed out/explained and they actually get it, it’s truly like a ‘ZOMGI just didn’t _see_ that’ moment…

And then there’s the ones where they really _do_ know, or at least strongly suspect they’ve been deceived and/or are parties to spreading the deception, but are motivated not to acknowledge it, for whichever reason… Because they’re already so committed, and don’t want the pain of facing it, or because the lie allows them to justify actions that otherwise can’t be, present or past. Such lies/misconceptions, if someone’s honest enough, and _if_ they ever face it, it’s by no means that flashbulb ‘I just didn’t see that’ moment… It’s more, okay, right, I should have known/I guess I actually kinda did…

This latter question–which of these it is in anyone supporting stuff like this–being maybe important in _getting_ people to turn, so probably not so academic, actually.)

Yes. Trump alone is nothing but the embarrassing, unhinged uncle you only ever see at family occasions. Trump with staff, retinue and followers is dangerous. How far these others will follow is going to depend on what Trump does and how people respond to it. I’m hoping that some support can be peeled away by constant emphasis on how un-normal his behaviour is, by how inept his actions are. There are going to be some so committed, so heavily invested that they will follow him wherever he leads, whatever he does. I think it’s going to take more Republican opposition to shake up the less devoted supporters; for too many, Democrats are a suspect source.

^ That. I think that’s most of why I disagree with Seth on that other thread about how much attention we should pay to Trump’s weirdness as opposed to the less sensational news about his actions. I think if nothing else the drumbeat of horrors will embarrass the Republicans and motivate them to step away.

But: I should plead guilty to a morbid fascination, too. It’s the same fascination that draws me to subjects like Holocaust denial, Freud, theism, homeopathy – inept thinking of all kinds.

Morbid fascination here, too. I watched bits of his rally in Nuremberg, Florida streamed live on some Youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkSajyh2_40 The choices of music are telling. At about 29 minutes, while the military aide on Air Force One is opening the door and securing the airstairs, it’s “Flight of the Valkyries”. Yes, they actually played Wagner. WAGNER! Would that count as Godwinning? At 34:00, Trump is coming down the stairs, we hear a choir sining “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord…” They’re really laying it on thick.

I would watch a bit then leave and come up for air. One bit a watched was his quoting of Thomas Jefferson about not believing anything written in a newspaper. He gives the date Jefferson wrote/said it and notes as an aside “My birthday”, like anyone would care. Even little examples of poor impulse control and lack of professionalism like this drive me nuts.

Most people I know would make better candidates for president simply because they would bow out knowing they would not be qualified for the position.